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Shaklee International Toastmasters Club invite everyone interested to learn or improve your speaking skills.

Read the transcript of the speech

00:02 [Music]

00:07 [Applause]

00:18 contestant number four

00:20 verity price

00:21 a great read

00:23 a great read verity price

00:29 when i was a little girl i used to love

00:32 snuggling on my dad’s lap while he read

00:34 me fairy tales

00:36 not surprisingly

00:38 i grew up wanting the fairy tale

00:41 to be happily married with beautiful

00:43 kids a gorgeous home and a great career

00:46 by 13

00:48 i never dreamed i would turn 40

00:51 unmarried no children and living

00:55 in my sister and brother-in-law’s spare

00:58 room

01:00 for my ego

01:02 this

01:03 was a scary tale

01:06 so i hid

01:08 in the spare room

01:10 eating ice cream

01:12 and binge watching

01:14 netflix

01:17 ponte’s chair

01:18 have you ever noticed that at your worst

01:21 you always run into someone at their

01:24 best i had dragged myself to the shops

01:28 just to get more ice cream thinking no

01:30 one i know

01:32 is going to be there

01:34 but there

01:36 she was

01:38 that friend

01:39 you know the one

01:40 their life is perfect

01:43 and they tell you

01:45 here i am hand on fridge stuck having to

01:49 hear how happily ever after she has

01:52 ended up

01:53 are you married

01:55 with kids

01:56 and your own business

01:59 and you bought a house

02:01 me

02:06 great i wanted

02:10 to die

02:12 i was a mess

02:14 my life was a mess

02:16 the spare room

02:18 was a mess

02:20 but this was the mess

02:24 where i found

02:27 the last letter my dad

02:29 ever wrote me

02:34 seeing his

02:35 familiar handwriting just flooded me

02:37 with grief

02:39 verity

02:41 your life is a book

02:43 and if you’re not enjoying the read

02:46 write a different story

02:48 and then watch for a miracle

02:50 because i’m watching too

02:55 i shot a miracle’s dad and

02:58 how

02:58 how do i write a different story about

03:00 this

03:02 read my point i went to facebook

03:06 and you guessed it

03:07 there were no stories of miserable 40

03:10 year olds living in spare rooms

03:14 but

03:15 the letter just lay there

03:17 it was like it was looking at me

03:20 almost whispering

03:22 write a different story

03:27 if anyone could write a different story

03:29 it was my dad

03:31 he wasn’t a glass half full guy he was a

03:34 anti-lucky i’ve got a glass guy

03:37 when dad was 60

03:39 he lost his job

03:41 we lost our home

03:43 and we had to live

03:44 in a camper van

03:46 but the story dad told was

03:49 we get to live like we’re on holiday

03:52 he never complained that he’d gone from

03:55 a corner office

03:57 to selling insurance

03:59 door to door

04:01 instead

04:02 the story he told was

04:05 i’m working on my sales skills

04:07 and the miracle that happened

04:10 dad was salesman of the year and he

04:12 bought us a new home

04:15 and even

04:17 in our last phone call

04:19 on his way to hospital

04:22 do you know what he said to me

04:25 don’t worry v

04:27 you know i love breakfast in bed

04:31 stream

04:33 hit me like a bus

04:35my whole life

04:37 dad had been showing me how to write a

04:40 different story

04:43 oh

04:45 i picked up my pen

04:47 i looked at that friend and i thought

04:49 40

04:50 is going to be my best chapter

04:53 i looked at the spare room and thought

04:56 this is my safe place to start over

05:00 i looked

05:02 at my love life

05:04 and you know what i thought

05:07 i have got to stop kissing frogs

05:14 when i wrote a different story

05:16 my life began to change

05:19 i went from feeling shameful

05:22 to feeling grateful

05:24 and for the first time i stopped

05:27 worrying about where i wasn’t

05:29 and i started enjoying

05:33 where i was

05:35 and the miracle that happened

05:37 within six months i’ve moved into a new

05:39 cottage

05:40 much to my sister’s relief

05:42 within a year i’d kissed

05:45 a prince

05:46 much to my relief

05:48 at 44

05:50 i had a baby boy

05:54 matched to my doctor’s

05:56 disbelief

05:59 this letter

06:00 catapulted me into discovering that it

06:03 doesn’t matter who you are where you are

06:05 what chapter of your life you’re in

06:08 something as simple as choosing to write

06:10 a different story

06:12 can make difficult circumstances

06:14 a lot easier to deal with

06:17 now i think you’ll agree with me when i

06:19 say the last two years have been a rough

06:22 read for us all

06:24 but

06:25 we’ve also written different stories

06:27 ones where neighbors get to serenade

06:29 each other and businesses get to pivot

06:32 and innovate

06:34 and my all-time favorite was that time

06:37 when we all waved our ones and bippity

06:40 boppity

06:43 your room turned into an auditorium and

06:46 mine

06:49 an international

06:51 stage

06:53 my fellow storytellers do you know what

06:55 i’ve learned

06:56 fairy tales are great to read to my son

07:01 real life is full of detours delays

07:04 things that go wrong

07:05 but

07:06 your life is a book

07:08 then every day you get to decide

07:11 is your story being written for you

07:14 or by you

07:16 when my dad reminded me that i was the

07:18 author of my life

07:20 my life changed

07:22 so if you’re looking for a change

07:24 you want a new chapter or you just fancy

07:26 a miracle

07:28 pick up your pen and write a different

07:32 story

07:33 wrap me

07:34 it’s gonna make for a great read

07:39 contest chair

07:49 [Applause]

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